- Lilly exercises option to an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize SIT-011, a Phase 1 ready immunometabolism-targeting therapy for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
- Option exercise triggers milestone payment to Sitryx with the Company eligible to receive additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones plus tiered royalties
- Progress of collaboration follows Sitryx’s recent successful $39 million fundraise to advance proprietary pipeline of immunometabolism-targeting therapies into clinical development
Oxford, UK – 1 November 2023 – Sitryx Therapeutics (“the Company”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, today announces that Eli Lilly & Company (Lilly) has exercised its option to progress SIT-011. Lilly will now lead further development and commercialisation of the Phase 1 ready immunometabolism-targeting therapy. Under the terms of the exclusive global licensing and research collaboration agreement established by the companies in March 2020, exercise of this option triggers an undisclosed milestone payment to Sitryx and the Company will be eligible to receive additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones in addition to tiered royalties.
Since 2020, the companies have collaborated on the development of programs exploring potentially first-in-class, small molecule immunometabolism-targeting therapies, including SIT-011, a post-translational modification modulator program for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. A second candidate, SIT-047, a one-carbon metabolism program, continues to be progressed by Sitryx in collaboration with Lilly. Lilly retains its option to exclusively license this second program for future development and commercialisation.
Under the terms of the original agreement, Sitryx received an upfront payment of $50 million and Lilly made a $10 million equity investment in the Company, with Sitryx eligible for future development and commercialisation milestones and royalty payments from Lilly.
Beyond its collaboration with Lilly, Sitryx is building a broad and differentiated proprietary pipeline by identifying novel targeted approaches based on how changes in metabolism modulate immune cell function. In September 2023 the Company completed a $39 million funding round, supported by world-class healthcare investors, SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), Longwood Fund, GSK and Lilly. Sitryx is using the proceeds to advance its proprietary pipeline of immunometabolism-targeting therapies into clinical development.
Neil Weir, Chief Executive Officer of Sitryx, said: “As a global leader in the field of immunology, we are delighted that Lilly has chosen to advance SIT-011 within its pipeline. We believe in the potential of Sitryx's immunometabolism-targeting therapies to change the treatment paradigm for patients with chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. We look forward to continuing our work with the Lilly team as we advance the broader collaboration.”
Ajay Nirula, M.D., Ph.D., vice president of immunology at Lilly, said: "Regulating the metabolism of immune cells is rapidly gaining ground as a promising approach to address autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Sitryx is leading the way in the development of novel immunometabolism targets. We are pleased to progress development of SIT-011 and to continue our fruitful collaboration with Sitryx to develop novel medicines that address the unmet needs of patients.”
For more information about Sitryx please contact:
ICR Consilium
Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Sue Stuart
+44 (0)20 3709 5700
Sitryx@consilium-comms.com
About Sitryx
Sitryx is a biopharmaceutical company focused on regulating cell metabolism to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Sitryx's proprietary science is led by a highly experienced management team and supported by world class academic founders. Sitryx was founded by world-leading researchers in the field of immunology and metabolism, including Houman Ashrafian, Luke O'Neill, Jonathan Powell, Jeff Rathmell, Michael Rosenblum and Paul Peter Tak. Together they have published more than 1,000 papers in the field, making multiple key breakthroughs in our understanding of how the energetic status of immune cells is critical in regulating disease activity.
Sitryx was founded in 2018 with seed funding from SV Health Investors and has raised in excess of $75 million to date from an international syndicate of specialist investors including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises, Longwood Fund, Lilly and GSK. In 2020, Sitryx formed an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. The Company has a pipeline of projects at multiple stages of drug discovery. Sitryx is headquartered in Oxford, UK. For more information, please visit www.sitryx.com.
